Haftarah for Shabbat Rosh Hodesh

Isaiah 66:1-24

This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh

Chapter 66

1 Thus said the Lord:
The heaven is My throne
And the earth is My footstool:
Where could you build a house for Me,
What place could serve as My abode?2 All this was made by My hand,
And thus it all came into being

— declares the Lord —

Yet to such a one I look:
To the poor and brokenhearted,
Who is concerned about My word.

3 As for those who slaughter oxen and slay humans,
Who sacrifice sheep and immolate dogs,
Who present as oblation the blood of swine,
Who offer incense and worship false gods —
Just as they have chosen their ways
And take pleasure in their abominations,4 So I will choose to mock them,
To bring on them the very thing they dread.
For I called and none responded,
I spoke and none paid heed.
They did what I deem evil
And chose what I do not want.

5 Hear the word of the Lord,
You who are concerned about His word!
Your kinsmen who hate you,
Who spurn you because of Me, are saying,
"Let the Lord manifest His Presence,
So that we may look upon your joy."
But theirs shall be the shame.6 Hark, tumult from the city,
Thunder from the Temple!
It is the thunder of the Lord
As He deals retribution to His foes.

7 Before she labored, she was delivered;
Before her pangs came, she bore a son.8 Who ever heard the like?
Who ever witnessed such events?
Can a land pas through travail
In a single day?
Or is a nation born
All at once?
Yet Zion travailed
And at once bore her children!9 Shall I who bring on labor not bring about birth?

— said the Lord —

Shall I who cause birth shut the womb?

— said your God.

10 Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
All you who love her!
Join in her jubilation,
All you who mourned over her — 11 That you may suck from her breast
Consolation to the full,
That you may draw from her bosom
Glory to your delight.

12 For thus said the Lord:
I will extend to her
Prosperity like a stream,
The wealth of nations
Like a wadi in flood;
And shall you drink of it.
You shall be carried on shoulders
And dandled upon knees.13 As a mother comforts her son
So I will comfort you;
You shall find comfort in Jerusalem.14 You shall see and your heart shall rejoice,
Your limbs shall flourish like grass.
The power of the Lord shall be revealed
In behalf of His servants;
But He shall rage against His foes.

15 See, the Lord is coming with fire —
His chariots are like a whirlwind —
To vent His anger in fury,
His rebuke in flaming fire.16 For with fire will the Lord contend,
With His sword, against all flesh;
And many shall be the slain of the Lord.

17 Those who sanctify and purify themselves to enter the groves,
imitating one in the center, eating the flesh of the swine, the
reptile, and the mouse, shall one and all come to an end — declares
the Lord.
18 For I [know] their deeds and purposes.

[The time] has come to gather all the nations
and tongues; they shall come and behold My glory.
19 I will set a sign
among them, and send from them survivors to the nations: to Tarshish,
Pul, and Lud — that draw the bow — to Tubal, Javan, and the distant
coasts, that have never heard My fame no beheld My glory. They shall
declare My glory among these nations.
20 And out of all nations, said
the Lord, they shall bring all your brothers on horses, in chariots and
drays, on mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem My holy mountain as an
offering to the Lord — just as the Israelites bring an offering in a
pure vessel to the House of the Lord.
21 And from them likewise I will
take some to be levitical priests, said the Lord.

22 For as the new heaven and the new earth
Which I will make
Shall endure by My will

— declares the Lord —

So shall your seed and your name endure.23 And new moon after new moon,
And sabbath after sabbath,
All flesh shall come to worship Me

— said the Lord —

24 They shall go out and gaze
On the corpses of the men who rebelled against Me:
Their worms shall not die,
Nor their fire be quenched;
They shall be a horror
To all flesh.

And new moon after new moon,
And sabbath after sabbath,
All flesh shall come to worship Me.
— said the Lord